The paper presents the extension of the method discussed in the literature of quantitative evaluation of operation on the example of a marine engine. According to this interpretation, the engine operation can be shown as a physical quantity. In this aspect, based on the main marine diesel engine an evaluation of the usefulness of this index for the description of the engine reliability related properties has been performed. Apart from the generally used reliability indexes, it seems purposeful to consider the engine operation (as well as its functional subsystems) in the evaluative way, so that it could be described by both energy and time. In this aspect, in the analysis the semi-Markov processes theory was used that allowed a description of the concept of the model of the engine deterioration process as a random one. The problem of the time of the first transition of the semi-Markov process to a subset of specified classes of states representing particular technical and reliability-related states of engine was described in detail.